What Wants to Come - Richard Wehrman

Out of that space that she
could not command, could
not direct, could extract
nothing from, except what
was given by the space itself,
out it came - what wanted
to come in its own way - and
she.....

the one along on the hurtling
ride, though space itself
was Silence itself, unmoving,
unmoved, unmovable - yet
it drew her in, into its very within,
she.....
who had been with-out, powerless,
hands pressed
against the glass of its sides,
like Alice to the looking-glass,
then she fell.....
was lifted in, was absorbed
into all she saw,
the all that was, that is,
heard, smelled, touched, tasted,
though none of these senses were,
only the clear light,
flooding the field, the transition
of the seasonal air, as Summer
shimmered into non-existence,
and clarity stood in silent
reveling: color and light and
form, falling upon her...

Poem - Richard Wehrman
From: Being Here

~

Top Photo via No Mind's Land

Bottom Photo - mine - a mistake, color enhanced
Can you see the form of a woman in pink with
arms outstretched? :)

How the Day Keeps Us - John O'Donohue

No one knew the name of this day;
Born quietly from deepest night.
It hid its face in light,
Demanded nothing for itself,
opened out to offer each of us
A field of brightness that traveled ahead,
Providing in time, ground to hold our footsteps
And the light of thought to show the way.

The mind of the day draws attention;
It dwells within the silence with elegance
To create a space for all our words,
Drawing us to listen inward and outward.

We seldom notice now each day is a holy place
Where the Eucharist of the ordinary happens,
Transforming our broken fragments
into an eternal continuity that keeps us.

Somewhere in us a dignity presides
That is more gracious than the smallness
That fuels us with fear and force,
A dignity that trusts the form a day takes.

So at the end of this day, we give thanks
For being betrothed to the unknown
And for the secret work
Through which the mind of the day
And wisdom of the soul become one.

John O'Donohue
Original Title: The Inner History of a Day
From: To Bless the Space Between Us:
A Book of Blessings

When laughing overcomes you - V.B. Price

art by Carole Leslie

Making room in your mind
for life without your mind

closed shut,
allowing all you are

to see you
where you are,

you feel the free light
behind you

is inside you
sensing Death.

Mind, the Divine,
are all the same.

What's in a name?
Death is the rest.

Open up, give it room,

let it breathe

the fear right out of you;
it is what's left of you,

it is you, free of you,
knowing you

like the truth
you know

when laughing
overcomes you.

Vincent B. Price
From Death Self

~

"laughing overcame me" reading the first two lines.
I turn 69 soon and am already
beginning to "live life without my mind" - or much
of it anyway, but not in the sense that VB Price means,
I don't think ;)  It's the aging process, not because of
some "spiritual" realization.  Memory banks are failing,
cognitive and comprehension fading.  I'm in geezerland
now, where the workings of the mind are less and less
a "problem" by nature :D  Not in the sense of purposely
"letting go" of the mind, which I found impossible anyway...
And yet, it is true it seems that it is still
"you, free of you, knowing you"
as Price writes...

_/\_

Namaste

Guru Cat speaks again

Listen to me...

Just lay it all down - Guru Cat said.
Just let life beeee, for heaven's sake -
What is,
as it is...
There is no other way through
but acceptance - ya know,
sounding exasperated...

Do not pursue the esoteric "answers"
for what cannot be explained:
for your existential angst;
for the frustrations with the way life is;
for the weariness of existence that you feel...
Be at peace with it all,
as it is...

Could this really be the "answer"!? -

I asked... in my head...
Just acceptance of what is?!
Just letting each experience be what it is...?

Guru Cat's eyes just stared.
Life is an interfluidity of experiences.
In the acceptance of each experience
is peace, a deep relaxation, a release
of all tension.
and, an inner movement of fluidity
with the deeper Rhythm of Life...

It's not as complicated as your mind
makes it...

It's not rocket science...
It's just Life living ItSelf...

She gave me that look.

Just rest - Guru Cat went on, trying to soften her tone,
with less sarcasm, more feeling...
Rest in the deep Silence of Being,
not seeking solutions,
or efforting after resolutions,
but deeply relax
into the Unknown,
and the unknowable,
only Aware of the Silence
within you,
the silent Presence of Awareness.
Do you see this yet?
Can you feel it?

Guru Cat continued to stare with steely eyes...

Remain relaxed in
the simplicity of Being
that just IS -
the ISness of Being

as it is-
Only Aware...
Not concerned with anything
that arises
within
or
without

Just Aware...

Yes, Guru Cat - I said

Guru Cat just stared...

and there was only the silence
of being  - Aware.

Mystic Meandering
Sept. 23, 2018

"Equinox" - Rumi

Artist: Puisi - ambua.id

Look at love
how it tangles
with the one fallen in love.

Look at spirit
how it fuses with earth
giving it new life.

Why are you so busy
with this or that or good or bad.
Pay attention to how things blend.

Why think separately

of this life and the next
when one is born from the last?

Look at your heart and tongue,
one feels but deaf and dumb,
the other speaks in words and signs.

Look at water and fire,
earth and wind,
enemies and friends all at once.

The wolf and the lamb,
the lion and the deer
far away and yet together.

Look at the unity of this
spring and winter
[or summer and fall]
manifested in the equinox.

You too must mingle my friends...

Be like sugarcane,
sweet and silent.
Don't be mixed up with bitter words.
My Beloved grows right out of my [your] own heart.
How much more union can there be...

Rumi

Translation by Mader Khalili
From: This Dance of Bliss

Poetry Chaikhana

Original title: "Look at Love"

~

The "Equinox" is a "pivotal cosmic hinge"
signifying equilibrium, or equality;
a fluid threshold, poised between 2 seasons.
Or in the case of the whirling dervish,
the union/merging of heaven and earth;

between Divine and human.
The Dervish whirls with one palm open up
to the cosmos and the other palm downward,
open to the earth...
symbolizing the union of our Divine nature
and our human nature...
the fusion of spirit and matter;
being reborn to the Truth of our Being...

As Rumi says -
"how much more union can there be? :)

Free to Be

I am free to be...

Free to Be - just as i am...

I/i am Beingness being...
Consciousness awareing...
Self expressing ItSelf;
or whatever word you give
The Mystery...

"I" - dressed up as "me" - "me" as "I" - i/I
Formless as form,
Form as formless...

Opening to The Mystery
we are free to be our unique selves,
just as we are...

When we know this
"something" wakes up inside -
and hums...

Everything is OM -
the hum of Life - humming -
playing in the play of Life
as i/I ~

with a multitude of other expressions of i/I
all playing in the sandbox of Life...

When we let go of the words
and the frameworks of belief and interpretations
we are free just to Be
~ as we are ~
letting go of the concepts of

i/I, I/me and "no-me"
we are
just Life - being lived
as we are.

There is something authentic
in allowing myself to be

as i/I am...

Life is met from a different space ~

the space of acceptance for all...

Play well!

Ommmmmmm

_/\_

Mystic Meandering

Meditative Writings
2011

~

Photo from a T-shirt

Lay It Down - Richard Wehrman

Could he really lay
it down, he wondered,
all the accumulated
projected desires, partly
his own, but most of it laid
out by others, in books,
in talks, in teachings
that said, this is your goal:
the unattainable, the
spiritually pure - you, the
ignorant, the unwashed and
uneducated - this is your
way to become better
than you inherently are.
No sense that you were [already]
what you were meant to be,
only what you might 

be molded to, chiseled into,
added onto your skeletal
frame of lack and loss.
For laid down, what would
he have but himself,
the very thing they convinced
him was worthless the
way it was.
What if this was all
he had, all he was... ?

Richard Wehrman
From: Being Here

Original title: "All He Had"

Truth is an Oasis - Jinendra

Truth is a pathless Oasis
Who can show you the path?
Have faith in yourself...
And begin the inner walk

To experience Truth
Put all aside
All that you have heard
All that you have ever read
All knowledge of scriptures
and the philosophical tenets
Put them all aside

[.....]

Just simply be Aware
Of the Reality within you...
Observe through your Inner Eyes

As the inner walk progresses
Awareness of space
and time ceases

Always remaining Equanimous
Alone you walk ... ...
and walk ... and ... walk
To the deeeeeepest depth
Of your mind and heart
To arrive at the Whole Truth

To live truthfully
Let each moment of Truth
Bring you to the next moment
of Truth

And so, from this moment's Truth
to the next moment's Truth
From Truth to Truth ... to Truth
On this pathless path you move
Until you finally arrive
In this pathless journey
To the Oasis of Truth

As you continue your "inner walk"
The observer merges with the observed
In a flash is revealed the Unknowable
The Truth - the Self is now Known
Beyond all doubts

[.....]

Now don't hold on
to your preconceived ideas and beliefs
Let go of all your old conceptions
You will understand and see
the meaning that hides behind these words

The Truth brings total synthesis...
Inward-Outward you now exist
In total peace and harmony

Be aware and perceive rightly

Then the words come alive and become meaningful
If not, they are like writings on water
Soon to disappear into meaninglessness!

Jinendra
Center for Sustainable Happiness

Photo and text via No Mind's Land

Be Where Love Is - Rumi

My heart, sit only with those
who know and understand you.

Sit only under a tree
that is full of blossoms.

Not every eye can see,
not every sea is full of pearls.

My heart, sing the song of longing
like nightingale.

First, lay down your head,
then one by one
let go of all distractions.

Embrace the light and let it guide you
beyond the winds of desire.
There you will find a spring and

be nourished by its sweet waters...

Rumi

"Unknowing knowing" Commentary - Granger

The following is the commentary by Ivan Granger that
accompanied the previously posted poem:
"Unknowing knowing"/"I Entered the Unknown."
I thought it might be helpful...

He says:

...the poem's archaic use of the word "knowing" implies a
general sense of knowledge acquired through reason and the
testimony of the senses.

The Spanish Saint, [St. John of the Cross] is speaking about
the mystical idea of "unknowing", the state in which all
concepts and mental filters have been set aside.  In that state
of unknowing, we rise above the elaborate constructions of the
logical mind and come to rest in pure awareness ("knowing by
unknowing").  He is contrasting true, unfiltered knowing, gnosis,
with the mere accumulations and organization of information.

To be unknowing in this sense is to encounter every instant
entirely as it is, in pure wonder, without projections, without
anticipation or agitation.  [Whereas] the intellectual mind.....
is always processing, analyzing and making everything fit
within its comprehension.  In interprets.
Awareness can step beyond the intellect to fully apprehend
reality...

This state of supreme unknowing is not perception in the sense of
drawing in and interpreting exterior input through the senses.  In
normal perception, the intellect sifts and sorts that sensory data
and formulates it into a working hypothesis of what reality is.

...the mystic's unknowing is the centered awareness of unfiltered
reality.....without an egoic agenda.  The full awareness in this
state of unknowing does not sift reality, it bathes in it.

"The transcendence  of "knowledge".....is found to be an
experience of "the deepest ecstasy/of the Divine Essence."
[as St. John of the Cross calls it].

Ivan M Granger
Commentary from: This Dance of Bliss

Poetry Chaikhana

"Unknowing knowing" - St. John of the Cross

I entered the unknown,
and there I remained unknowing,
all knowledge transcended.

Where I entered I knew not,
but seeing myself there,
not knowing where,
great things then made themselves known.
What I sensed I cannot say,
for I remained unknowing,
all knowledge transcended.

In this peace and purity
was perfect knowledge.
In profound solitude
I understood with absolute clarity
something so secret
that I was left stammering,
all knowledge transcended.

So deep was I within,
so absorbed, so transported,
that all senses fled,
and outer awareness fell away.
My spirit received the gift
of unknowing knowing,
all knowledge transcended.

He who reaches this realm
loses himself,
for all he once knew
now is beneath his notice,
and his mind so expands
that he remains unknowing,
all knowledge transcended.

And the higher he rises
the less he knows;
That is the dark cloud
that shines in the night.
The one who knows this
always remains unknowing,
all knowledge transcended.

This knowing by unknowing
is of such exalted power,
that the disputations of the learned
fail to grasp it,
for their knowledge does not reach
to knowing by unknowing,
all knowledge transcended.

Of such supreme perfection
is this knowledge
that no faculty or method of mind
can comprehend it;
but he who conquers himself
with this unknowing knowing,
will always transcend.

And if you are ready to receive it,
this sum of all knowledge is discovered
in the deeper ecstasy
of the Divine Essence.
Goodness and grace
grant us this unknowing,
all knowledge transcended.

St. John of the Cross
(1542-1591)
Original title: "I Entered the Unknown"
From: This Dance of Bliss
by Ivan Granger
Poetry Chaikhana

The "Infinite In-Between"

Art by Mitra Banejad

Cradled in the "Infinite In-Between",
like the space between words, or
the breathless pause between thoughts,
that space of Stillness of Being -
Pure Awareness unfolding ItSelf
within me...

I bow before the Mystery,
the limitless, boundaryless Infinite
Beingness that just IS;
that lives ItSelf through/as this body-mind.

I cannot help myself.
I must bow inwardly before the Ineffable
that fills this being...
The pull of "The Beloved" is so strong...

I am prostrate within - unable to move;
not out of some false sense of piety,
or self-negation, or false effort to attain -
but out of sincere and genuine adoration
for that which can't be named or spoken,
but which is Alive within me.
My Heart kicks in recognition...

It is the Nameless that calls to me, from within.
The deep Presence of the pureness of Existence...
The Living, Breathing Being that "I" am;
not the surface persona of thoughts, perceptions,
and feelings...  but the deepest Essence of Being
ItSelf invites me inward to ItSelf...
How could "i" resist...

I willingly succumb, collapsing internally into the Formless,
and find myself fluidly suspended in Its Breath,
Cradled in Its Rhythm,
Dissolved in the purity of Being beyond being;
the quintessential "Infinite In-Between"
of untainted Knowing Awareness.

Mystic Meandering
Sept. 7, 2018

~

Note:  the phrase "Infinite In-Between" just rolled out onto
the page in the Silence the morning that I wrote this - and
then the poem emerged.  I know someone will tell me there is
no "in-between."  I understand.  Sometimes the words just
come as they come, prior to mind or definition.  In this case
there is no particular "meaning" for the phrase "Infinite In-Between"
except my experience of it that morning as described in the poem.
My only "intention" in writing is to inspire, as I am inspired to write.
May it do so, no matter if your mind wants to argue with the words.:)

_/\_

Namaste

~

Top photo of painting via
In The Garden Of the Beloved

I Am Undone - Brian Thompson

I am undone.

I no longer remain,
and yet, I Am.

All that remains,
is this beautiful nothingness of all that Is;
a suchness of being beyond any event, memory or experience,
a knowingness transcendent of any concept,
including the illusions of space, continuity and time.

I know only
this presence of knowing
that knows only itself;
an empty space of infinite silence,
that contains no thing, no purpose and no meaning,
but from which all things, purpose and meanings arise.

I am indistinguishable,
yet, in me all things are distinguished.

I am the seemingly aspect-less one.

In this presence that I Am,
where the appearance of me and you,
of this and that and everything in between
seems to unfold, all such ideas dissolve
into the invisible truth of
None.

I know only
this blissful plenitude of all-pervading peace,
into which the dream of the universe unfolds,
where consciousness has awoken
within the void of the Absolute,
and has blissfully announced
awareness of itself as,
I Am.

Brian Thompson
Zen Thinking

Thank you No Mind's Land :)

~

...know oneself as the Knowing with which
all experience is known...
There is just transparent knowing
and you are that Knowing...

Rupert Spira

~

Photo - Fat globules in a pan
digitally zoom blurred 

Sublime Presence - Chuck Surface

The moment-to-moment Experience of existing,
Imbued with the Ecstasy of Pure Awareness,
Timeless, spaceless, objectless... selfless,
Diminished in its arising in Form,
But unmistakably "of" its Source,
Water from that Ocean, Light from that Sun.

To the Hindus...
The Ananda of Satchitananda.
To the Christians...
The Presence of the Holy Spirit.
To the Sufis...
The Perfume of The Beloved.

A river of Formless Pure Being,
Flowing effortlessly into form,
Into the Wellspring of the Heart,
Overflowing... flooding even the physical form,
With Fullness, Completion, and Bliss.

Not simply peace, happiness, and joy,
On the level of psychology and emotion,
Not simply a profound understanding,
An apperception born of knowledge,
But the Orgasmic Ecstasy of the Soul.

Not constrained to eyes shut "meditation",
But with eyes open,
Here...

In this Dream of manifest existence,
Formlessness Being, Shining into and as Form.

The Beloved, ever within us,
Her Heart beating in ours, as ours.
The Embrace of Shiva and Shakti,
The Ecstasy of their Union.
For others... the touch of God.

Untouched, unmoved, impenetrable,
By the ever-changing circumstances,
Of conditionality,
Even as storms rage,
In the realms of psychology and emotion.

Ever-present, as Unimaginable Grace,
Even in moments
Of deepest Sorrow,
Deepest Despair,
Deepest Fear.

This Ineffably Sublime Presence,
Shining as the true Sat Guru,
The True Murshid,
The True Teacher,
In the Cave of The Heart.

The Comforter,
The Teacher,
The Beloved.

Chuck Surface

Facebook

In The Garden of the Beloved

~

Photo from the Internet

Sunset over a wake on the Ocean..

"Wandering"

"Wandering" in the Great Inner Wilderness - the Vastness of Being -
is intentional.  It is not floundering or aimlessness, but a deep
resting in The Silence of The Mystery...I am not renouncing
anything, nor seeking to attain anything - like enlightenment -
but only allowing myself to feel the deeper Rhythm of Life within -
through Silence and Solitude - through moving with the movement
of the Eternal, Infinite Being that arises from the deep inner space
 of Silence.

This is not an escape from the "world", yet to some degree that is true.
It is leaving behind the "surface consciousness" of the world that so
often drives us/me through life, and keeps us/me from deepening
into The Inner Rhythm - until - I am able to intuitively and
and instinctively feel the Internal Rhythm of Being flowing in and
through myself - naturally - usually through being in intentional
Silence...

This Rhythm is a fluid, open movement of unending intimacy with
"The Beloved" (The Formless Silence that animates all Life)...  I
wander this Inner Wilderness bringing my awareness to that internal

movement of Being - seeing how IT wants to move me.  At
times I feel as if "The Beloved" is as much in  my shoes as I am
in "The Beloved's" shoes - walking as one...

The Inner Wilderness is a space of remedial Silence for me that heals
the Heart and Spirit/Soul.  It allows me to be "anonymous" - without
identity, or function - just resting - allowing myself to be absorbed
by the Silence - leaving everything else behind until I am fully
Immersed...

Sometimes I experience an inexplicable, unbidden, palpable all-
encompassing - as if held from within - Presence of the deepest
Peace. Standing int the grocery store one day - yes, I still have to
 tend to the mundane :)  I am not in a cave somewhere :) - I was
acutely aware that I was surrounded and infused with a Great Peace
 in the midst of chaos...  I stood in wonder realizing this as life played
 itself out around me...  I also realized that I was actually functioning
 from that place, even without being aware of it, until I became aware
 of it - if you know what I mean.  A sense of "me-ness" had dropped,
to some degree, and "I" was just Peace - doing the groceries -
living life... But this was only a glimpse...a glimmer of Reality
 that faded over time.

Once, I felt myself fall more deeply into a felt sense of a deeper Inner
Rhythm - a seamless fluidity within - that nothing could interrupt: not
thought or the external distractions of life, nor the deeply ingrained
 emotional and mental patterns that arose as well.  Once again,
I was losing a sense of "me."  It was freeing as "I" was opened up to
the deeper Rhythm of Being; a deeper Awareness...  But this
 too faded in time.

Although these experiences faded, I do not consider them mere
"mystical experiences", but the normal play of the Formless in
Form that we encounter if we are paying attention...  The Formless
dances within us, and comes to us in many Forms, gracing us with
ITs touch...  We only need to be aware...

~

"The Beloved falls in Love with ItSelf...
Inhabits ItSelf - as Form...
and loves the Form of ItSelf..."

MM

~

this post was originally written in 2015

~

Photo from the internet

"Knowing"

"You have no regard for stature"

someone once told me...

It's true - title, position,
knowledge, wealth and status
do not impress me,

because we really are all
the same fabric of Reality,

weaving our way through life,
given what we've been given,
each playing a different role;
each a different thread,
each carrying a different burden;
most of us running through life
with blinders on,
only seeing our self-importance,
or our suffering, our struggle -
waiting for others to see it too...
But "we" are mere facades,
masks in a sea of masks -
most of us not really seeing the Being
we truly are behind the mask,
within the shell we call ourselves;
stature or not...

No one really knows more "truth"
than you do, if you really look
inside yourself.
And yet we flock to and believe
the self-professed gurus of the day -
the vendors of "truth" -
and read their books, inhale their words
spoken into the air,
as if they have acquired something
that we have not...  something that we don't "know."

Speaking their clever philosophies about
"truth", "reality", existence;
walls of empty words...
How do they really "Know?"

Turning inward we realize that we also "Know",

because the same "truth" Lives within all...
Is that arrogant to say ;)

This does not mean that I don't respect those
who truly Know - from their own direct experience;
not just regurgitating what they think they "know"
from other gurus and books;
other cosmologies and theologies...

We may all use a different language, or different words
- but still -

deep inside we intuitively Know.
if we allow ourselves to "know",
knowing that "knowing" changes,
through the fluidity of ever-expanding awareness.

Sometimes we know that we "know" with clarity.
And sometimes we are muddled with uncertainty and
 "not-knowing."
And perhaps the truth is that we really don't know the "truth."

So we keep searching for just the right teacher, or teaching,

the resonant words, longing to fill the "gap" we feel;
although "they" will tell us there is no "gap."
Or we fall back into old beliefs, grabbing for the familiar
paradigms of reality that will give our minds
a sense of certainty of "knowing" once again.

I know, I've done it 100's of times...

But these scaffoldings must collapse...

"Knowing" is really about being comfortable with, and trusting
 our own Inner Life, our own Inner Being,
that holds the Inner Knowing, rising within from a
Greater universal Knowing - the Sacred Silence -
from which Knowing comes...

Listening inwardly, not mentally,
not *acquiring* knowledge,
but letting the timeless innate Knowing
teach us, infuse us...

In time emerging into true Self-awareness -
as the Pure Light of Knowing
lights us from within...

Mystic Meandering
Aug. 22, 2018

Namaste

_/\_

~

Photo via No Mind's Land

digitally altered

Keep Noble Silence - Fred LaMotte

'Keep Noble Silence.'  This was the Buddha's teaching.
Is there a difference between ordinary silence and noble silence?

Ordinary silence is mindless.  Noble silence is mindful.

Ordinary silence is the absence of noise.  Noble silence is the
fullness of Being.  It is pure awareness, free from the chatter
of conceptual thought.

Peace comes through Being, not through argument.

Thought melts away, past and future dissolve into Presence.

Mind sinks into the groundless, journeys deep into the virgin
forest of the Heart.  There, in noble silence, one sees all
causes entangled in causelessness.  One sees golden emptiness
pervading all creatures.  One sees sparkling stillness in all action.

A silent heart irradiates the world with compassion.

Fred LaMotte
Uradiance

Silence of Love - Rumi Revealed

Art by Rassouli

Rumi embodied the expression of love in a way that brought
heaven to earth.  He became part of the great mystery, the unity,
and the oneness that awakens the heart from a deep sleep to reveal
the divine truth of who we are...

The greatest of human achievements have not evolved from the
words expressed by a person manifesting greatness, but from the
depth of the Silence...

Silence is the ultimate presence of God.
The essence of love and creativity exists in Silence and not in the
words that are derived from the rational mind.  Every word evolves
from Silence, every sound proceeds from Silence, and every thing
that is created has originated from Silence.  All become the living
word of life itself.

Life is illuminated when the lips are closed, and the heart begins
to speak.

Rumi has given more value to "silence" for those on the path of
enlightenment than other mystics.  Many of the poems in the
Divan of Shams end with the words "Be silent", or some other
descriptive phrase about being silent.  His most mystical poems
and those with deeper meanings often reflect the importance of
Silence.  Perhaps some of the best advice in his poetry is when he
tells himself to be silent as he feels the emergence of the rational
mind interfering with his ecstatic state.  He usually stops the poetry
and goes into Silence when that happens.

.....poetry to him is conversation with love.  It is in
Silence that love most easily finds the way to the heart.  It is in
Silence that love is given the freest passage.  The expression of the
message then has the perfect clarity of truth. If we open our mouths
to speak, and our words do not come from love, then we should
say nothing.

Silence is pure essence, while talking is like a cover surrounding
the essence.  The deep ecstasy of the spiritual journey harbors the
beauty hidden inside.  Silence has many concealed advantages,
and the simplest one is that it relieves apprehension and doubt
and frees a person to embrace an inner peace.

There is sacred Silence inside everyone where a divine conversation
can be heard.  Be silent and listen to the whispers of love within
the heart that long to be expressed and feel the tranquility and
freedom love can bring.

What matters in life is what is true and the moments that are real,
moments when love is felt and experienced, when a connection
is made through love, whether it is another person, or when
feeling the presence of Divine Love.  Pure love is everything,
and it flows from a deep and sacred Silence...

Excerpts from: Rumi Revealed
from the chapter: Silence of Love
direct translations and mystical expressions
by Rassouli

Rassouli is also an exceptional artist

This Dance of Bliss - Goethe

What is this dance of bliss
Cascading through my senses?
I feel new life, holy rapture
Burning through my nerves and veins.
Was it a god who shaped these symbols
Summoning this inner ecstasy,
Filling my impoverished heart with joy,
And revealing, through some mysterious impulse,
Nature's secret sinews surrounding me?

Am I a god?  I am filled with such light!
In this pure array of emblems I see
Nature's workings laid bare before me.
Only now do I comprehend the sage's wise words:
It is your mind that is closed, your heart that is lifeless!
....rise without fright,
and bathe your earthly breast
in the rosy dawn's light!

As all things, one in one, are woven,
Each in the other works and lives and is whole!
While heavenly beings climb and descend
Passing down their golden pails,
And with their incense-pinioned wings
All heaven and earth are blessed;
They sing in symphony
through all things!

Goethe

~

This poem is from a newly published, inspiring collection
of poetry by classical mystics, seers and saints from all
traditions, called This Dance of Bliss, compiled and edited by
Ivan Granger of Poetry Chaikhana.  He also offers his
reflections and commentaries on the poems...

For a closer look at what's inside,
 and pre-order discount click here

Solitude - Zat Rana

"All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly
in a room alone."

Blaise Pascal

According to Pascal, we fear the silence of existence, we dread the
boredom and instead choose aimless distractions, and we can't help
but run from the problems of our emotions into the false comforts
of the mind.

We never learned the art of solitude.  And now we live in a world
where we're connected to everything except ourselves [Selves].
Everything that has done so much to connect us has simultaneously
isolated us.  We are so busy being distracted that we are forgetting to
tend to ourselves [Selves], which is consequently making us feel
more and more alone.

Never being alone is not the same as never feeling alone.  The less
comfortable you are with solitude, the more likely it is that you won't

know yourself [Self].  And then, you'll spend even more time avoiding
it to focus elsewhere.  In the process, you'll become addicted to the
same technologies that were meant to set you free.  Just because we can
 use the noise of the world to block out the discomfort of dealing with
ourselves doesn't mean that this discomfort goes away.

Almost everybody thinks of themselves as self-aware.  They think
they know how they feel and what they want and what their problems
are.  But the truth is that very few people really do.  And those that do
will be the first to tell you how fickle self-awareness is and how much
alone time it takes to get there.  In today's world, people can go
 their whole lives without truly digging beyond the surface-level  masks
 they wear...  We are increasingly out of touch with who we are...

Almost anything that controls our life in an unhealthy way finds its
roots in our realization that we dread the nothingness of nothing.  We
can't imagine just being rather than doing.  We have an instinctive
aversion to to simply being.  And therefore, we look for
entertainment, we seek company, and if those fail, we chase
even higher highs.  [Even "spiritual" highs].

We ignore the fact that never facing the nothingness is the same as
never facing ourselves [Selves].  And never facing ourselves [Selves]
is why we feel lonely and anxious in spite of being so intimately
connected to everything around us.

Fortunately, there is a solution.....  When you surround yourself with
moments of solitude and stillness, you become intimately familiar with
your environment in a way that forced stimulation doesn't allow.  The
world becomes richer, the layers start to peel back, and you see things
for what they really are, in all their wholeness, in all their
contradictions, and in all their unfamiliarity.

You realize there are other things you are capable of paying attention to
than just what makes the most noise on the surface.  [Solitude] allows
you to discover the novelty in things you didn't know were novel; it's
like being an unconditioned child seeing the world for the first time.  It 

also resolves the majority of internal conflicts.

Without realizing the value of solitude, we are overlooking the fact that,
once the fear of boredom is faced, it can actually provide its own
stimulation.  And the only way to face it is to make time to just sit...

with our thoughts, with our feelings, with a moment of stillness,
[with our Self]...

Zat Rana

Excerpt from: The Most Important Skill Nobody Taught You

an article in "Medium", an online Salon for sharing ideas.

Medium.com

[brackets mine]

Exquisite Silence

Sitting in my chair one morning there was a sudden,
spontaneous awareness of exquisite Silence
 permeating the room.

It was a tangible Silence
pulling me inward - inviting me into its intimacy -
absorbing me...

Then mind said:
the faucet in the kitchen sink is broken,
gotta get a new faucet.

Silence silently said;
Follow Me...

Mind said: there are several piles of laundry
needing to be done.

Silence quietly said:
Be absorbed in Me...

Mind said: clean your house!

Silence merely said:
Be undisturbed...

And so I sat - within Exquisite Silence -
undisturbed, absorbed, at peace -

communing with Silence in silence...
sensing it, tasting it, feeling it,
experiencing it...

Delighting in the Silence of Being...
Like the way of "the ancients" - like Rumi
who knew the intimacy of the
Rhythm of Silence in his whirling...

Experiencing Exquisite Silence is
experiencing the presence of Pure Awareness,
the simple Isness of Being - just Being...
which is never disturbed by thought,
while thinking occurs  simultaneously...
It's just Beingness being what It is -
Silence...

touching you,
whispering to your Heart to come and be still -
to listen...

Exquisite Silence is the thread that runs through everything -
infusing all life with its Quietness...

Following the Silence takes you to the Eternal Ocean of Being,
where Silence continuously rolls in upon ItSelf,

wave after wave...

What ecstasy to be absorbed in Exquisite Silence...

I didn't want to move from my chair,
but to move only as Silence moved me...

Everything else can wait...

Mystic Meandering
Meditative Writings
Sept. 2012

The World of a Mystic - Naomi Stone

A mystic cannot help vanishing
into the living mystery of God...
It calls the soul beyond everything I have ever known
and then surprises by manifesting creatively...

infinitely... and intimately...

in the feathering of divine essence
as such variation and beauty...

I experience melting of all identity
into the softness of love
and the magnificence of light
in the gift of caressing waves of peace...

God is [the] artist of stroking color and vision...
[the] sculptor of glorious expression...
the sound and symphony
of the evolution of the spinning stars...
a glowing luminous and embracing moonlight...
mountainous stairways to the sky...
whispering tenderness...
an interior river of flowing peace...

an eternal companion...
magnifying and enlarging and deepening
the expanse and reach of divine love...

the sacred path
of the sweet revelation
of relationship
where everything is transformed into life itself...

I surrender into the sacred surroundings
of an absolutely enchanting Beloved...
this is the exquisite and elegant dwelling
within the One
from whom we came...

Naomi Stone

Personal Note - This is similar to what I experience when I "enter" (become aware of) the Sacred Silence within.  It is the space of  Presence, the Divine, The Beloved, or "God", however one calls this for themselves...

Photo ~ Rainbow light on wall

Waking up to your Aliveness - Elizabeth Gilbert

Creativity is the relationship between a human being and the
mysteries of inspiration...

We are all capable of brushing up against a sense of mystery and
inspiration.  We may be able to draw nearer to that source than we
think, being gently propelled by some force, something not "me."

"Creative living" is living a life that is driven more strongly by
curiosity than be fear. [But] you won't be able to create anything
interesting out of your life if you don't believe in "creative
entitlement."  This doesn't mean behaving like a princess, or acting
as though the world owes you anything.  "Creative entitlement"
simply means believing that you are allowed to be here, and that
merely by being here, you are allowed to have a voice, and a vision
of your own.

The poet David Whyte calls this sense of creative entitlement "the
arrogance of belonging", and claims that it is absolutely vital
to cultivate if you wish to interact more vividly with life.
Without this "arrogance of belonging", you will never be able to take
any creative risks, without it, you will never push yourself out of the
suffocating insulation of personal safety and into the frontiers of the
beautiful and the unexpected.

The "arrogance of belonging" is not about egotism or self-absorption.
In a strange way it is a divine force that will actually take you out of
yourself and allow you to engage more fully with life.  Because often
what keeps you from "creative living" is your self-absorption, i.e.
your self-doubt, your self-disgust, your self-judgment, your crushing
sense of self-protection.  The "arrogance of belonging" pulls you out
of the the darkest depths of self-hatred, not by saying "I am the
greatest!" but merely saying "I am here" -
the simple entitlement to exist and
express yourself.

Your soul will mobilize accordingly.  It will mobilize ecstatically,
because this is what your Soul [Being] was born for.  Your Soul
has been waiting for you to wake up to your own existence
[your Aliveness] for years. 
[Being wants to express ItSelf through you in creative ways.]

Elizabeth Gilbert
Author of Eat Pray Love

above excerpt from: Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear 

[brackets mine]

~

Photo - leaves on grass,
color digitally inverted